Consequences
by WhiteIce
Summary: When Penny sees something that she wasn't supposed to about her new neighbor Swan, she is put in danger. And she isn't the only one when Swan starts dating Leonard. I don't own the Big Bang Theory.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay, so I decided to do something a little different this time. I'm going to make a trailer to this story with this chapter, and you tell me what you think, okay? Enjoy. P.S. A few things in the trailer I might take out if something better comes along. Think of this as a teaser to the story.**

_It was just a game when it started, watching people._

**Shows a surveillance system.**

"Sheldon, why did you put cameras in the apartment building?"

_I don't know how it got this way._

**Shows Penny watching the screens alone. Suddenly, she her eyes widen.**

"Guys! You guys! Come here! Hurry!"

_I know what I saw._

"She killed someone Leonard!"

**Shows a beautiful women talking to Leonard.**

"Hi, I'm Swan."

_And now she's making me pay._

**Shows Swan watching Penny and Leonard arguing.**

"I can't trust you anymore!"

**Swan leans in close to Penny.**

"I'm going to kill you slowly and then, I'm going to bury your body next to your nerdy little boyfriend's."

_I can't fight this alone._

"Why won't anyone listen?!."

_I don't know who to trust._

**Shows Swan with a butcher knife, ready to stab Penny.**

_Everything's on the line._

**Newspaper Headline: Killer of 22 Men and Women Still Unfound.**

_I want to know what's going on._

**Penny watches Swan with Leonard.**

_But it's getting harder to pay that price._

**Penny and Leonard move in to kiss.**

_He's going to get hurt._

**Shows Penny with Sheldon, Raj, and Howard.**

_They're all going to get hurt._

**Penny punches Swan.**

_Because of me. _

Penny watches the screens, her eyes widen.

"Leonard."

_And what I saw. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you for reading this story, and I would like to apologize for any errors I have made in the trailer and for the long time it took for me to update. I have had a bit of trouble with my computer, but it has finally worked out. **

**would also like to say that I do not own the Big Bang Theory, Rear Window, Disturbia (which gave me the inspiration for this story, but does not follow it's plot) and or anything else that belongs to someone else. **

Penny had always loved summer. There was an electric glow in the air that seemed to turn her into an insomniac during those too few couple of months. She could stay awake days at a time and only have a few hours of sleep.

She was sitting on her windowsill, staring into the moon when she first heard it. A small humming noise. If it hadn't been the dead of night and every living thing was quiet, Penny would never have heard it. But she did, and she ignored it, until it became drilled into her brain, unable to let her enjoy the energy of the peaceful summer night. Finally, after an hour of this, she got up, and went outside of her apartment.

Penny followed the humming until it got louder, and it lead her right to her neighbors' apartment. Sighing in frustration, she went back inside and got the key Leonard had given her in case of an emergency. Something inside that apartment was annoying her, and she considered that an emergency.

She tiptoed in, and stopped in disbelief.

In the main room of the apartment, someone had set up multiple TV screens, all showing different situations of the apartment building. Most of the screens were outside doors and in the staircases. Her eyes widened and she let out a disbelieving gasp of indignation. She would have gone on staring had she not heard a girlish scream behind her.

"Intruder!" And the next thing she knew, something hard hit the back of her head and she fell to the floor.

"Sheldon stop! It's Penny!" Looking up, Penny saw Leonard grabbing on to a large sword Sheldon held in his hands, which looked, from Penny's position, very sharp.

"I come in peace! Don't attack!" Penny squealed, as Leonard finally managed to take the sword from Sheldon.

"Are you okay?" He asked, throwing the sword on the couch. Penny could now see that it was plastic, and felt completely stupid and humiliated. She was going to give Sheldon heck for this.

"No! I just got attacked by a mad man, the same mad man who is SPYING ON THE ENTIRE BUILDING!" She yelled, pointing to the TV's.

"Oh, that." Leonard sighed. "Yeah, I tried to talk him out of it."

"I don't care what you say. It's completely useful. I will be able to detect if any burglars or mass murderers are breaking into the building." Sheldon said, chin in the air.

"Sheldon, when has one crime been committed in this building?"

At this, Sheldon picked up a pile of papers that lay on the coffee table and began flipping through them. "Number One: Karen O'Malley, 1993, fell and broke her leg on a crack in the stairs. Number 2: Rachel Fellen, 1999, found her workout videos and asparagus missing from her apartment. Number 3:-"

"SHELDON!" Penny shouted. "Who cares?"

"I do. I think it's for my personal well-being and safety if I have these cameras."

"Did you even clear this with the head of the apartment building?"

"If I want to protect myself, then I can do it without permission."

"Plus the fact that he wouldn't give you permission." Leonard cut in.

"That's because the Head is simply ignorant and is ignoring all the damages that are going on in this building."

Penny stared at him for a few seconds, then threw her hands up in the air. "Okay, you know what, do what you want, I don't even care." The mature thing to do was to let it go. Also, Sheldon was eyeing his sword again and even if it was plastic, it looked sort of dangerous.

As Sheldon grabbed his sword and retreated to his room, Penny flopped down on the couch. Leonard approached her, standing awkwardly as he always did, just a few feet away from her.

"Just to let you know," he said, "Wolowitz is watching every time you come in the building."

"Thanks Leonard." Penny cringed and sighed. She looked over at the TV screens once more. "I can't believe you put up with this."

"Well, it's either that or Sheldon's threatening to take away my right to read his Flash comics. And he'll try to blow up my brain again." Leonard sat next to her on the couch, a few inches away. Penny had started to notice his awkwardness to get close to her just recently in the past weeks. She smiled secretly to herself and scooted just an inch closer just to freak him out. Which of course it did.

"It – it is kind of fun, though." Leonard stammered out. "Not to watch you." He amended hastily when he saw Penny's face. "I mean, to watch other people. You'd never guess it, but this place has some weirdos."

"Oh, I could guess." Penny muttered, staring in the direction of Sheldon's bedroom. "Well, thanks for stopping Sheldon from killing me with his Lord of the Rings sword."

"Oh, that wasn't Lord of the Rings, that was Harry Potter's sword. The one he slayed the basilisk with in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets-" Leonard trailed off as Penny gave him an incredulous look, the one she always did when he started talking too much and about stuff she didn't understand.

"'Night Leonard." Penny went back to her apartment, and then turned the knob. And again. And again. Sighing, she walked back into Leonard's apartment. "Can I spend the night here? I locked myself out." She _knew _she should have given Leonard a key to her apartment, but she was afraid that, no matter what Leonard said, Sheldon would find it and come into her apartment again. That last visit had given her nightmares for a week.

"Sure." Leonard gathered some pillows and blankets, and Penny settled down on the couch. She hadn't slept for two straight nights, and she it was finally beginning to catch up with her. Within a few moments she was asleep.

* * *

Penny woke up at 3 in the morning, already energized. She could never sleep long in the summer. Standing up, she stretched and decided to find something to occupy her time with. Maybe she could try reading one of Sheldon's comic books. With a smile on her face, she got up to see if she could find any. Suddenly, a flicker of movement on one of Sheldon's TV screens caught her attention.

It was nothing, really, just a man coming out of an apartment. He was tripping over his own two feet, and Penny guessed that he was drunk. He just stood there for a few moments, wavering, until a women came out behind him.

Penny critically studied the woman. It was a bad habit, she knew, but she liked to know what other women lived in the building looked like. She hated to admit it, but she always had an image of a heart stopping, yet geeky, woman coming and taking Penny's place in the group, making her an outcast. Penny had gotten used to being Leonard and Sheldon's friend, and she kind of felt special being the only hot girl that hung around with them. It always meant they treated her better than most of the men that she had met before.

As far as she could see, though, Penny didn't have anything to worry about. This woman wasn't the boys' type, being beautiful, but not the geeky type at all. Her tall, thin body curved in all the right places, showing off pale dove skin that collided with her dark, rich hair, reminding Penny of a cold winter's night. But what Penny saw next was even more stunning than her beauty.

She wrapped her arms around the man's shoulders, and whispered something in his ear. He laughed loudly, drunkenly, but suddenly he stopped and turned to face her, fear on his face.

In the woman's hand, Penny saw a long, thin, knife, which had ripped out part of the man's coat. The woman wasn't smiling seductively anymore, but with an eager grin on her face. She walked towards the man, who began to stumble backwards in his effort to get away from her, but finally landed on his back. He started to scoot backwards with amazing speed and got to his feet. He began to run for the stairs. Just as he had his foot on the first step, the woman, who had been attempting to force him back into her apartment, lunged forward and stabbed him in the back. The man twitched for a second, then fell, arms splayed out, eyes open, but frozen, not blinking. Never to blink again.

Then, the woman looked around her, and then up into the camera, and _she knew. _Penny screamed as she saw the woman's dark eyes staring at her, boring into her, killing her; not noticing that Leonard was by her side until she felt his hand touch her, asking what was wrong. She had no response accept to bury her head in his shoulder, awkwardness be dammed, and cry. And as she cried and screamed into his shoulder, she didn't see the woman, still staring at the camera, dragging the body back into her apartment.


	3. Chapter 3

**It took me a while to update, so I hope this chapter is long enough to make up for it. Enjoy!**

When Penny woke up, she felt something cool dripping down her forehead. Eyes still closed, she reached up and felt around until she could feel the spongy material of a washcloth. She tried to reach up with her other hand, but found it was attached to something heavy. Finally opening her eyes, she saw Leonard holding her hand and asleep in a chair next to the couch. Penny stirred.

"Leonard." She squeezed his hand lightly. No response. She tried again. He still slept. Penny sighed in frustration. She leaned in close to him, her breath on his face.

"LEONARD!"

He pitched forward and landed in Penny's arms. With a squeak, Penny pulled her arms back. She scooted down a little to make room for Leonard, where they sat in an awkward silence. Finally, Penny cleared her throat. "Leonard, what were you doing?"

"You were sick." Leonard mumbled. "Last night you started screaming and then passed out."

As he said this Penny felt the memory of last night come racing back to her. She went through the he details slowly, carefully, looking over each one as if it were a precious memory, instead of a haunting nightmare. When she finished, Leonard was staring at her again with a worried expression.

"Leonard…" It crossed Penny's mind to maybe tell the police first, but she tossed the thought aside after a second. If there was anyone she trusted, it was Leonard. Even though she had met him just months ago, she already knew that she could trust him with anything. Being around Leonard gave her the feeling of calm she needed right now. She took long, deep breath.

"Leonard, last night on Sheldon's cameras, I saw someone murder a man."

"What?" He was confused but he wasn't looking like she had gone insane, thankfully. "Are you joking?" But Penny could see that Leonard knew she wasn't joking. She knew he had never seen her so serious before.

"I'm serious." He face was so solemn and voice so depressed, that Leonard's eyes began to flicker with shock.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes." Penny nodded solemnly. "He was drunk, but not you know… mean drunk, just tipsy. And…and then she just came out and..." Penny closed her eyes and without thinking reached for Leonard's hand. Just in time she stopped herself and curled it into a fist.

"I…We have to report this!" Leonard jumped up.

"Report what? We don't have any evidence, we can't just… Leonard, where's Sheldon?"

"I don't know, I think he went to the comic book store." He looked stunned at the sudden chance in conversation.

"It doesn't have to be him." Penny had got up and was pacing now. "Do you know how to hack into those cameras?"

"Hack? Why couldn't we just use the controls? Anyway, what's your point?"

"Can you control the camera and get the past footage?"

"Yes! I can't believe I didn't think of that! Penny, you're a genius!"

"Well…" A small smile spreading on her face, Penny ran over to the cameras. "So can you do it?"

"Sheldon can do it better than I can, and anyways, he hid the controls. He was afraid someone would break into the apartment and steal them. Or I would. But I'll go get him."

Penny watched Leonard run out of the apartment door but turned away a second later, not seeing Leonard narrowly avoid crashing into a beautiful woman.

"Sorry." He apologized.

"It's fine." The woman grinned at him, something sparkling in her cold black eyes.

As Leonard ran down the staircase, the woman passed his room, looking in casually and her eyes widened.

It was a normal looking enough apartment, sparing all the hero junk they had lying around. But the important thing was in the middle of the floor: the huge row of TV screens, including one _aimed at her apartment._ Sitting on the floor next to the cameras was a pretty blonde. She was looking at the screens when she accidentally fell forward and hit her head against the TVs, giving a little yelp.

That voice.

So this was the little idiot who had caught her last night. She looked simple enough to silence.

Smiling, the woman retreated down the stairs. Just plain killing had gotten so boring, and could make this a bit more fun, more challenging than normal.

"Hey there lucky Penny." Penny cringed as she heard Howard's voice behind her.

"Howard, what are you doing here?" She said as she tried to mask the irritation in her voice.

"Leonard said that you needed to see us." Howard planted himself on the couch, uncomfortably close to Penny. She scooted away pointedly.

"Correction, Leonard told me that Penny needed to see me right away, thus interrupting my purchase of the new Batman comic. You and Raj just followed me to exercise your salivary glands over Penny like you always do although the chance of her dating you are about as improbable as the sun suddenly aging hundreds of years and going out right at this very moment."

"How can you say that all in one breath?" Howard wondered.

"I didn't understand that, but Sheldon's right." Penny said.

"Thank y- Wait a minute, you _never_ agree with me, even when there's the rare chance that you _do_ understand what I'm talking about. What do you want?"

"What makes you think I want anything?" Penny said in her most innocent voice.

"Because when you want something from someone – say, a favor – you usually, to use the common term, "butter them up." Sheldon said, using awkward punctuation marks. "Like when you ask Leonard for a favor, you bat your eyes and push your hips out." Sheldon then proceeded to do a horrible imitation, causing Penny to blush. When had she ever done that? She had never really thought about that around Leonard.

"Yeah, except when Penny does that, it looks hot." Howard said, cutting into her thoughts. Raj nodded vigorously in agreement, but stopped when he noticed Penny glaring at him.

"Raj, where's Leonard?" She asked, hoping to punish him and break him of his selective muteness. Raj pointed to the open door.

"Leonard's still downstairs. This hot chick bumped into him and wouldn't let him leave without talking to her." Howard said, scooting closer to Penny again.

"Oh…Well, Sheldon I was wondering - "

"Yeah, I'm telling you, I think Leonard's really going to get the girl this time." Howard said, completely oblivious to Penny's irritation. "I mean, did you see her?" He punched Raj in the shoulder. "Man that girl eyes are beautiful. They're like little onyxes. Opals. Wait – What jewels are black?"

"Black?" Penny felt her heart stop suddenly. Woman. Black eyes. Knife. Leonard. Oh no. "With black hair and really, really white skin?"

"Like snow." Howard stated dreamily. Five seconds later he fell off the couch as Penny raced by him and out the door.

Leonard. For a split second, Penny saw her friend in her mind's eye instead of the unknown man. Lying in the stairwell, covered in blood, dead. She fell down a flight of stairs in panic and right into Leonard, who was indeed talking to the woman she had seen last night.

"Penny?" Leonard grabbed her hand and gently helped her up. "Oh," he said, noticing her looking nervously at the beautiful woman. "Penny, this is Swan."

Penny felt her heart threaten to rip out through her chest. Unintentionally, her fingers tightened on the hand that Leonard had used to help her up. For a minute, she thought she saw Swan smile as she saw this. But then her eyes snapped back to Leonard and she walked seductively towards him.

"I look forward to see you again Leonard." And she turned and walked away, with – it seemed to Penny – a bit of a spring in her step.

"Leonard." Penny hissed. "Who was that?"

"Swan. She's new here." He sounded slightly stunned, like he had been slapped.

"Leonard, she's the killer!" Penny let go of his hand, and shook Leonard slightly. He shook his head slowly, as though trying to clear it. It took him a long time to respond.

"Swan? The killer? I guess it could be her. I mean, though, are you sure? Maybe you saw someone else on the TV and just got confused. And I was down here all this time, alone. Why didn't she just kill me too?" He asked a little definitely.

Before Penny could grasp that there was the slight, itty-bitty chance that Leonard was doubting her, she heard a high pitched scream from upstairs, one that she had heard before. Actually, she had just heard it last night. Automatically, her head snapped around to meet Leonard's, and she knew exactly what he was thinking.

"Sheldon."

They raced upstairs, and into his apartment. There they found Sheldon whimpreding and holding his ripped camera wires. He was holding them up to his chest, devastated. "Alright, which one of you deviants did it? You all hated her, I knew you did!"

"Her?" Raj snickered before seeing Penny and clamping a hand on his mouth.

"I – I don't know what happened." Howard said, looking at Sheldon in shock. "We were all with you in the bedroom, remember? We were just looking at your Superman comics -" He then noticed Penny and Leonard in the doorway. "It must have been THEM!" He shouted, pointing, which caused Sheldon to whip his head around and stare at them with murderous eyes.

"Howard!" Penny yelled.

"Sorry babe. Every nerd for himself." He said, scrambling out of the room with Raj.

"Look Sheldon…" Leonard started, while Penny, seeing the danger signs, started to move towards the door. She tried to catch Leonard's eyes to tell him it was useless, but he was looking directly at Sheldon.

Just as Sheldon opened his mouth, Penny broke into a full run for her apartment. She hit the door, just as she remembered that she had left her key inside. Thankfully, the building's crummy construction crew hadn't used very hard wood. She smashed right through the door, ruining the lock. She scrambled up and slammed the door shut just as Sheldon began to scream.

It was only when she was safe in her apartment, slumped down on the floor, she realized that because the wires were cut, she could no longer prove to Leonard – or anybody – that Swan was the murderer.

**Well, that's that. Until next time,**

_-WhiteIce_


End file.
